The Alarm’s Mike Peters pulled off a remarkable weekend for his charity, Love Hope Strength, hosting a 6.00 a.m. hike up a very wet and windy Mt. Snowdon with 150 trekkers, followed by a sell-out concert at Rhuddlan Castle on the same day. Epiphone was one of the proud brand supporters of the Love Hope Strength Foundation Snowdon expedition and provided Mike Peters with an Epiphone Masterbilt Acoustic. Peters took the guitar up the mountain to play a few numbers to his fellow climbers before the big gig at the castle later in the day.

Event organizer Jules Peters explained, “From the moment last year when Mike expressed a desire to pull off a rock gig at the castle, we have worked tirelessly to make this weekend a success. Never before has a rock concert been staged at Rhuddlan Castle and, with the full support of Cadw and the North Wales community, the event has been a huge success, raising a minimum of £20,000 with donations and sponsorship money still pouring in. Heartfelt thanks to the local community who supported our dream.”

Mike was joined on stage by The Levellers, who made a massive overnight journey from Inverness, Scotland, to be at Rhuddlan Castle Rocks. Simon Fowler from Ocean Colour Scene made a surprise special guest appearance, and Mike and The Alarm joined Simon on stage to perform their massive hit, “The Day We Caught the Train.” The Alarm treated the audience to a medley of Top 20 Hits, including “Rain in the Summertime,” “68 Guns” and “Spirit of ’76.” Mike was also joined on stage by very special guests, actors Phil Daniels and Keith Allen, for a stirring performance of “Love Hope Strength,” the signature tune of Mike’s foundation. All performing artists signed the Epiphone Masterbilt Acoustic guitar before it was auctioned off to raise additional funds for the charity.

“In 1983, on my first-ever Alarm tour of the U.S.A., I performed with U2 at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver, Colorado, which is one of the most atmospheric music venues in the world,” says Mike. “On August 7th, 2010, as I looked out at the crowd at Rhuddlan Castle Rocks, I felt the same magical atmosphere. What an amazing place to play, on my doorstep, and to be able to raise a huge amount of money for our local North Wales Hospitals.”

During the build-up to this year’s event, Mike Peters and The Love Hope Strength Foundation have attracted incredible support from all over North Wales, with Mike Peters performing a marathon acoustic busk-athon at all three North Wales appearances. With the support of Barclays, Mike Peters has been performing and raising cancer awareness outside and inside local branches of Barclays bank, inspiring many of the local staff to climb the mountain with him. Mike was joined by trekkers from Saints Health Club, Meliden, who cycled from Meliden to Snowdon, climbed the mountain and then cycled back to Rhuddlan in time for the concert.

At the Faenol Fawr Country Hotel, Bodelwyddan, on the night of August 6th, Mackenzie Jones' Solicitors, in conjunction with Love Hope Strength Organizer Jules Peters, hosted a summer ball to benefit Love Hope Strength with Mike Peters in attendance and also a team of 12 international trekkers, some of whom travelled from as far away as Mexico and Norway to climb Snowdon. On Friday afternoon, Mike and wife Jules also showed LHS supporters around the North Wales Cancer Treatment Centre in Ysbyty Glan Clwyd Hospital earlier that same evening to demonstrate where Love Hope Strength monies are spent.